peppermint crisp pudding

This is a classic South Africa dessert that is so easy to whip up and hardly warrants a recipe. Its something I just make without thinking.

I had my teenage twin nephews visit me the other day, so I thought Id make them a little treat. I was supposed to supervise them with their studies but in the end I landed up fussing over them and feeding them as I normally do.

You would typically make this in a square or rectangle dish with defined layers of biscuit and caramel, but I wanted to deconstruct it a bit and make individual servings. Frankly they are just so much more pretty to photograph.

This is a recipe that you can adapt and change. You could add all the cream to the caramel or leave some of it to decorate the top. You could use more or less chocolate.

What you need to make 1 dessert (will feed 4 – 6)

1 tin of caramel (about a cup)

1 cup of cream (25oml)

80g of chocolate peppermint crisp bars

about 1/3 of a cup of milk

1t instant coffee granules

1 packet of Tennis biscuits

1T Baileys / Cape Velvet / chocolate liqueur – optional

Whip the cream and add about 3/4 of it to the caramel, reserving the remaining 1/4 for garnish. Beat the cream into the caramel until it is smooth. Grate the chocolate and add 3/4 of it to the cream/caramel mix. Pour the milk into a shallow bowl and dissolve the coffee granules. If you are adding booze like I like to do when making this for adults, then you add if to the milk now. Dunk the Tennis biscuits into the milk mix, flipping them over and then setting them aside. This softens them slightly and I like the flavour the coffee adds. It helps takes the edge off the sweetness of this.

If you are making one dessert you would place a layer of Tennis biscuits at the bottom, top with a thin layer of caramel and then repeat until all the mixture is used up. I like a layer of cream on the top. To make the individual portions, simply crumble a biscuit or two and then top with caramel and then repeat.

Decorate with grated peppermint crisp.

It will set in the fridge and is a bit better to make this in advance or the day before.